By Lincoln Anderson
Friends and colleagues offered fond tributes and shared memories of Tony Dapolito at Community Board 2’s full board meeting last Thursday night. Known as the unofficial “Mayor of Greenwich Village,” Dapolito served 12 times as chairperson of the Village’s C.B. 2 and was the city’s longest-serving community board member. He died July 2, a day before his 83rd birthday.
Reading statements were Ed Gold, a veteran board member; Arthur Strickler, the board’s current district manager; and Rita Lee, a former district manager.
Gold, a 30-year board member, said that although some might have described Dapolito as a humble baker, “He wasn’t always humble. He wasn’t humble about bread and he wasn’t humble about parks.”
When Dean & Deluca opened on Broadway, Dapolito checked out their bread and said his was better, Gold recalled. And Dapolito, also known as “Mr. Parks” and “Mr. Playgrounds,” never wanted to relinquish his chairpersonship of Board 2’s parks committee.
“He had a very strong view that parks were his area and he was proprietary about it,” Gold said.
“Tony had the biggest heart of anyone on this board,” Gold said. “He set a precedent of community activity on this board. He tried to bring people together. And we’re never going to see the likes of him again.”
Lee, the board’s former longtime district manager, recalled being interviewed by Dapolito and other board members when there was an opening for the job; Dapolito had opened the door for her at legendary board member Ruth Wittenberg’s townhouse and remarked that they had a “good-looking” candidate for district manager, she said, prompting laughter. Throughout the interview, Dapolito gave her winks, but in such a way that Lee was only flattered. Needless to say, she got the job.
“He was my friend, my buddy and my fearless leader,” Lee said. “I never heard Tony insult, be rude or give anyone short shrift.” Dapolito never acted like a boss, but always treated the board’s staff like a team, she said.
With his friendly yet persuasive approach, Dapolito usually got what he wanted, Lee said.
“Nobody could refuse Tony,” she said. “He was irrefusable.”
She recalled going to city agency meetings Downtown with Dapolito. He’d pick her up in his bread truck and with her heels on she’d clamber up.
She remembered calling him at work at Vesuvio Bakery about board matters.
“I’d call him and he’d say, ‘Wait a minute…’ ” We knew when he said, ‘Hold a minute,’ he was selling bread,” Lee said.
“I can’t believe that when I dial 925-8248 he won’t be there and say, ‘Hold a minute.’”
Lee said she knows that every third Thursday of the month when the full board meets, Dapolito will be “sitting up on a cloud with Ruth Wittenberg…watching.”
Strickler, the board’s district manager for the past seven years, said, “There is not a park in Community Board 2 that Tony did not get built, renovated, fixed up.”
“His motto was ‘What does the community think?’ ” Strickler said of how Dapolito would approach thorny issues.
He remembered how Dapolito would “slave away over his old-fashioned coal-burning stove” baking in Vesuvio’s basement. Despite his taxing job, Dapolito found time for the community board.
“Was Tony dedicated?” Strickler asked. “As he’d say — fugheddaboudit. He’d always stay till the end of meetings” and early next morning would be back at the oven baking.
“He was my mentor, my guide,” Strickler said. “Tony was a man of his word. He meant what he said and he said what he meant. He was unique. He was a caring individual who will not be forgotten. God bless you Tony,” Strickler said, “and thank you for all you’ve done for us.”
In addition, Jim Smith, the board’s new chairperson, shared his thoughts about Dapolito. Smith remarked that a quote by former Parks Commissioner Henry Stern in The Villager’s obituary on Dapolito rang true; Stern had noted that Dapolito wasn’t just a professional activist, he was also a working man, which added to who he was.
“He was rubbing up against people all day, every day,” Smith said, noting, “Principles have to work at street level.” Dapolito’s “streetness,” Smith said “made him pragmatic. I don’t mean this as a pun, but I think he recognized that two-thirds of a loaf was better than none.”
Councilmember Alan Gerson and former Councilmember Kathryn Freed, the latter attending the meeting as state Senator Martin Connor’s board liaison, both also said words about Dapolito.
In addition, there was a memorial service for Dapolito before last week’s Washington Sq. Music Festival performance, attended by his widow, Frances; Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe and Manhattan Borough Parks Commissioner Bill Castro.
Tony Dapolito in Vesuvio Bakery on Prince St.
